STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Commencement speaker Dafne Balderas says her family\u2019s hope for a better future paved her way forward. As a first-generation student, she wants to honor the personal sacrifices they made to improve the lives of their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raised in Waco by her mother, Balderas and her two older brothers grew up in a home of tough love and endless support. She recalls often translating for her mother and grandmother during medical appointments, and navigating those language barriers sparked her desire to transform healthcare for underserved populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople just want to be heard,\u201d Balderas said. \u201cI want to help bridge that gap and be an advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since accepting her scholarship offer at Tarleton State University, Balderas has been able to chase her dreams and make her family proud. She graduates this Friday, earning a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science with a pre-medical concentration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On campus, Balderas has been a member of the TriBeta and Alpha Epsilon Delta honor societies and served as vice president of the Kappa Delta Chi sorority. She was instrumental in rechartering the sorority at Tarleton State in 2024 after a four-year hiatus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the Kappa Delta Chi sorority, Balderas volunteers regularly and cites their annual foster care Thanksgiving dinner as a cherished memory. While she never imagined herself in a sorority, Balderas credits her sisters for instilling her leadership and confidence. Now, she wants to inspire that same self-assurance in others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe hardest thing about being a leader isn\u2019t the job,\u201d said Balderas, \u201cbut learning that you belong in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to her coursework and extracurricular activities, Balderas has participated in the Joint Admission Medical Program, a highly competitive state program that supports placing qualified students in medical schools and internships. Upon graduation, Balderas will begin medical school at Texas A&M University and plans to become an endocrinologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Commencement speaker Dafne Balderas says her family\u2019s hope for a better future paved her way forward. As a first-generation student, she wants to honor the personal sacrifices …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":55132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":421,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,425,421,426],"tags":[430,439,462,456],"class_list":["post-55114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-campus-community","category-featuredstories","category-honors-achievements","tag-academic-affairs","tag-division-of-health-sciences","tag-lozano-long-division-of-global-community-and-first-gen-initiatives","tag-stephenville"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"jdouglas","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/jdouglas\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/Dafne-Balderas-lead-image-300x200.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>","Honors & Achievements<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>","Honors & Achievements<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>","Lozano Long Division of Global, Community and First-gen Initiatives<\/a>","Stephenville<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>","Lozano Long Division of Global, Community and First-gen Initiatives<\/span>","Stephenville<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 days ago","modified":"Updated 3 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 5, 2026","modified":"Updated on May 4, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 5, 2026 10:00 am","modified":"Updated on May 4, 2026 10:33 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55115,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55114\/revisions\/55115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}